Training 11/6 - 11/12 and Cranberry Crawl 5K

Mon- Rest

Tues- President’s Hill, 7.5 mi, 57:36, 7:41/mi

Evening: Weights, upper body, 37 min

Wed- Rest

Thurs- MKT, out for 3.15 mi), 25 min, 7:56/mi, and then back 3.15 mi at 6:43/mi (goal 10K pace), overall 6.3 mi, 43:09, 7:20/mi

After this run we took our fall picture on the trail.
















Fri-Rest

Sat- Cranberry Crawl 5K, 3.1 mi, 19:54, 6:25/mi + 1 mile warmup

I enjoy running this course which is the hilliest 5K that I run. I slept well and was feeling ready to race when I woke up. Temperature was 32F and sunny so I decided to wear a long-sleeve wicking shirt and covered it with a cotton shirt, wore gloves and headband as well. I was a bit concerned I might be overdressed by the time the race started, but with the wind it felt just right.

Hugh and I warmed up for about a mile right before the race which started at 8 am. There were 91 runners which were down from last year. I lined up in front and when we took off it seemed like several people were starting really fast. I held back and still passed a few people the first half mile and a couple more in the latter half. First mile split was 6:14 and I felt good.

During the second mile there were more hills. I wish I had worn my data recorder since this race would have an interesting elevation chart since there are plenty of hills. During the second mile there’s a loop of streets we go around and we were directed the wrong direction, but it was still the same distance. However, the mile marker was off since we went the wrong direction. I did get my split from my GPS and second mile was 6:37 with hills.

I felt good on the 3rd mile, but there were still hills so I waited until we were done with the hills to pick up the pace. I could see a couple runners ahead of me but it wasn’t likely that I was going to catch them. Third mile split was 6:26 and then I could see the clock. Last year I ran the race in 19:55 and I was hoping to at least be sub-20. It looked like it was possible so I pushed and ran the last 0.1 in 37 sec. Total time was 19:54. Not a PR for the course, but still not a bad race. I felt like I could have kept running for a few more miles. My avg HR was 163 which seemed a little low for a hilly 5K.

Overall I placed 6th out of 91 and 2nd in my age group (35 – 39). Hugh had a great race running in 22:35, the second fastest time for him on this course, and first in his age group. We’ve been running this race course since 2000.

For prizes we were able to pick from several nice options. Hugh picked gloves and I picked socks. Race Results are posted at Cranberry Crawl

Sun- Prathersville, 13.5 mi, 1:56:29, 8:38/mi

The plan was to run 8 miles today. Before I set out to run, I decided I would run 10. The temps were in the 50s during this run and I felt so good I decided to go 12 miles. This is a very rolling course with some good hills and I was enjoying it so much I decided to run to the stop sign in Prathersville and turn around so I ended up going 13.5 miles. My heart rate only averaged 133 on this hilly course so definitely an easy run for me. It felt good to run some long easy miles. I’m looking forward to doing more of these runs.

Evening: Weights, upper body, 43 min

Running: 31.4 mi

Cycling: 0

Weight-lifting: 80 min

YTD Running: 1663.73 mi

YTD Cycling: 575.6 mi

November 18th-Cross Country Xtreme Off-Road 4-mile runNovember 23rd-Thanksgiving Day Pie Run 5K/10K
December 2nd-Jinglebell 5K Run for Arthritis
December 9th-Cheese and Sauerkraut 10 Miler
December 31st-First Night 5K